Monopoly Cat: A Stroke of Marketing Genius

How do you infuse new life into an age-old board game? Ask Monopoly. With roots dating back to 1903, the game still resonates (it has 10 million Facebook fans) – and it tapped into modern consciousness to ask which playing piece should be retired. That’s social lingo for which piece is “oldest” – turns out, the iron is oldest. Five minutes ago, the brand’s Facebook page announced the news that the iron is “going to jail”:

And just a few minutes before that, news sources began leaking what the new piece is: a cat!

What does that mean? We know that cat videos consistently rank the most viewed on Facebook…and it’s a pretty good bet that many of those maniacal cat fans are going to feel the need to replace their current Monopoly game sets with new ones featuring their favorite creature. Rekindling sales of – and interest in – an age old game…well, let’s just say that Monopoly clearly has nine lives.